Thursday, 27 February 2014

I readily admit that I have a soft spot for 1980s Japanese-made Aria Pro II guitars - even pointy ones like this Aria Pro II ZZ Deluxe. Although quite obviously based on Gibson's Explorer the designers have made this version their own with a slimmer more contoured body shape. The quality of Aria guitars from this period is down to their origination in Japan's famed Matsumoku factory. This particular guitar is a rare left-handed example and features the addition of an aftermarket Kahler tremolo. If you're left-handed and the design of this guitar appeals (which probably means that your band plays metal) then you could do a lot worse than give this guitar a whirl.

Tuesday, 25 February 2014

I've never seen one of these (closeup around 1:50). There are other videos on YouTube showing him with this guitar, too. What a player. I believe this is live: they didn't normally close-mike vocalists on TV back then. What is this guitar?
Thanks for your great blog from Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, where the temp is currently -19 °C.
- Tate

Hi Tate. All the clues are there. The headstock shape, the cut-out in the body, the metal pickguard, the offset block markers... It's a 1960s Japanese-made Teisco. However, I am unable to tell you the exact model, it's not one I've seen before. It certainly sounds great in Glen Campbell's hands, though!

Sunday, 23 February 2014

Unfortunately the eBay seller does not give us even an approximate date for this Ricardo doubleneck acoustic guitar but it does look to be quite old; it's certainly seen better days and had lots of use judging by the wear and tear, plus the cracks in the back.

When I first saw these pictures I thought that because the necks are mounted quite closely together that this would effectively be a harp guitar with the upper neck fitted with sub-bass strings meant for open playing only (i.e. not to be fretted). However, the seller tells us that the upper neck is actually intended for "steel" (or slide) playing and that the nut and bridge are higher on that side of the guitar (see the first photo above), allowing for a slide-friendly high action.

What we do know is that these Ricardo guitars were made by Edward Richardson and that this doubleneck is thought to be one of perhaps 20 such examples built. Richardson apparently claimed these were the first doubleneck guitars to share a single headstock (which, having seen many museum instruments, I can attest is almost definitely untrue). It may however have been the first doubleneck to incorporate a neck exclusively for slide playing.

Currently listed on eBay with a Starting price of US $650 and a Buy It Now price of US $1,250.

Saturday, 22 February 2014

You may remember the Alvarez Scoop guitars which had an extended lower cutaway which actually passed beneath the strings as if threatening to bisect the guitar body in two. Here we see a lesser known model from the same company, the Alvarez Successor. Once again, it has a big chunk taken out of the body - this time the wood has been banished from behind the bridge/locking trem. Whether this is in any way beneficial to the performance of the guitar, I really couldn't say. But then it is a hangover from the pointy guitar excesses of the later 1980s when image seemed far more important than practicality.

Friday, 21 February 2014

Never mind your Tele with B-Bender, this 1971 Gibson Les Paul can do all that and more. It does look a bit cumbersome with all those cables coming out of it though. Anyway, here's the story from the eBay seller:

The Les Paul [Serial #686339] is in real nice shape and before all you vintage freaks, freak out, the MSA mod was done in 1979 before this instrument was considered vintage and/or important. So take a deep breath and read about this very unique piece of guitar history.
The guitar belongs to a prominent Los Angeles studio session player from Dallas, Texas. He is retiring and selling many of the instruments that he no longer has a call for. Being in Texas put him in the circle of players that were doing a wide range of commercial music and Steel Guitar was one of the more prominent flavors in the air. Maurice Anderson and Tom Morell (of Dallas) created MSA Steel Guitars and were crazy enough to develop this pedal system for six-string guitar. Phil Baugh was an early adopter and can be heard on George Jones “HE STOPPED LOVING HER TODAY” and “IF DRINKING DON'T KILL ME, HER MEMORY WILL” playing his modified instrument. Here is a link that features Phil playing his MSA modified Peavey. This Gibson Les Paul Custom is the only one like it in the world that has this MSA attachment, that Maurice Anderson personally installed in 1979 [may've been 1980]. There were 24 more installed on Peavey guitars, but only the first one of those was sold [for $10,000] to the Austin, Texas friend of Reese who coerced him into developing this MSA unit. The others were never sold, because they were locked up in a warehouse in receivership,as MSA went bankrupt, & the Peavey's were never seen again as far as I know [this might have changed, since MSA re-emerged from bankruptcy about a decade ago]. There was also a Gibson L-5s modified for Phil Baugh.
Here is a link to a discussion about this instrument.
The only other mods on this Les Paul are coil taps & a phase switch, for more sound variety, since it was never gonna sell as "original" anyway.
The MSA attachment comes off or goes on in ten seconds with thumb screws, & it stays in tune, unlike the permanently attached precursor that Reese made for Phil Baugh, 40 some odd years ago, for his fender Jazzmaster. The six pedals can be adjusted to vary pitch on each string, individually, anywhere from a half step to 6 half steps up or down, depending on which end of the levers on back of the guitar you attach the string to [pretty ingenious].
The winning bidder can specify the type of strings and other parameters for a complete professional (no charge) set-up before the guitar is shipped.

Wednesday, 19 February 2014

The very mention of vintage 1960s Italian guitars makes me think of gaudy finishes, arrays of push button switches, and guitars with four pickups squeezed in between the top of the fretboard and the bridge. This Goya Rangemaster is more minimalist than most with just a single pickup, but then you can trust the Italians to do things differently and this pickup is split into two halves with a bass emphasis on the three bass strings, and a treble bias to the three highest strings. You'd think with a pickup like this the guitar might be wired for a stereo output but no mention is made of this in the eBay listing and I suspect that it is not the case.

This guitar also comes complete with its original case (minus the upper lining). Now, haven't I seen a recently produced very expensive "designer" guitar case that looked almost exactly like that? Hhhmmmmm...

For me as a big Devo fan, this comes as very sad news. Bob Casale, along with his brother Gerald Casale and the Mothersbaugh brothers Mark and Bob, was a founder member of Devo and played on all of their albums. He died on 17 February 2014 from conditions that lead up to heart failure. More here.

Monday, 17 February 2014

Here's another guitar design based on a comic strip character currently being offered for sale by Guitar Village in the UK. Dubbed the "Loonycaster" the guitar body is modelled on the inane grinning face of Beano comic favourite, Dennis the Menace. [U.S. readers might not recognise this character as Dennis The Menace, as in America he is a small yellow-haired child who is always inadvertently making his neighbour Mr Wilson's life a misery. As to who is the real menace, the UK or US Dennis, it would seem that both Dennises made their first appearances in March 1951. It's just one of those strange coincidences.]

This guitar was originally listed at £759.00 before the priced was slashed to £379.00. However, since that latter price has been struck out on the website I'm not sure if that means the £759 price is reinstated or if someone has actually bought the guitar.

Sunday, 16 February 2014

This custom-built guitar and case set featuring the cartoon strip characters Calvin and Hobbes leaves me nearly speechless. Sometimes there can be a very fine line between what is brilliant and what is a complete pile of crap, and I think this guitar and case is hovering around that mark although I can't quite say which side of the line it might settle. If you were to play this on stage would the members of the audience appreciate what the guitar was supposed to represent, or would you have to bring the case out and stand it upright so that everyone could get the reference? And is it just me that finds it a little bit sinister that the body of the tiger opens up so that the boy can be put inside?

Furthermore, why does the boy (Calvin, I believe... I never followed the strip) seem to be picking his nose, or am I misinterpreting his facial features?

The construction all appears to be quite... how shall we say?... rustic?

Currently listed on eBay with a quite astonishing Buy It Now price of £8,000.

Thursday, 13 February 2014

Hey guys,
I live in Japan and I kept seeing this strange travel guitar. It's called a GR-PPG and you can see it here or even buy it from here (I have nothing to do with this site, just saw it in English). It's supposedly made by Grassroots which is ESP's cheapo line for the Asian market, but this one doesn't even have a name on it nor is it on their website, which is why it took me a while to find it. I thought it was as stripped down as you could get while still being somewhat Strat-like.
Just thought you guys might enjoy it.
Keith.

Thanks Keith. From the front it looks like a Strat with an invisible body. It's funny, but you can almost "see" the body shape that isn't there - it's just what you are expecting, I guess. Weird one. I wonder if John Mayall approves.

Wednesday, 12 February 2014

While I recognise and even appreciate the sheer amount of skill, craftsmanship and artistry that goes into making a highly decorated guitar like the Blueberry Floral mandolin-shape electric guitar pictured above with its intricately carved and coloured timbers and fretboard inlays depicting flowers and hummingbirds, I really do find the end result far too fussy and over-complicated. It looks too much like a guitar made to be hung on the wall and admired rather than being a guitar made to be played.

Currently listed on eBay with a quite staggering Buy It Now price of US $3,650.

Tuesday, 11 February 2014

I suspect that this Clevinger by Robert Lee fretless bass was designed as a electric upright bass (EUB) - the name "Clevinger" is ringing bells in the back of my mind, but I can't remember any details as to why or who might have played one. However, whether it was designed to be played upright (I wonder if it has a detachable spike?) or to be played horizontally, it sure is one hell of an ugly bass. But of course, that shouldn't be our first consideration. The seller claims that it "sounds wonderful and comes close to an upright sound", and that really ought to count for something. Maybe it's one for the studio, and take something prettier out on the road!

Monday, 10 February 2014

I wonder if you could help me. Now I've seen some "can you guess the instrument" articles, but this ones an expert level one.
So the story is: A friend of mine gave me some junk old (bass)guitar drilled with holes, painted white (even the fingerboard...yeah). the neck was totally falling apart, so that got lost instantly. The body allthough was in good shape. the original color was white too I guess.
So this was 6 years ago. The body got lost too. I recently became a luthier but all I'm left is the hardware (without pickups). I'd love to rebuild this guitar almost from scratch. Problem is i don't even know what brand the bass was.
I draw a picture of the old body how i remembered it, and according to the leftover parts how it should've looked. It definetly had a scratch plate but i did not recieve that either.
So what I know:

This was a shortscale bass guitar

made in 2-76

control plate is original blue sparkle

double cutaway body (not hollow)

I'm from Hungary Middle-East Europe so i guess it must be something from either Italy, Germany or somewhere from Eastern Europe. I hope you can help me.
greetings
Gyula Szabó

Sunday, 9 February 2014

This Fernandes RJB-CTM Bass is a Made In Japan J-type bass so you know it's going to be outstanding quality. However, the main reason I'm posting it on Guitarz today is because of that startling but very cool bi-coloured finish.

Currently listed on eBay with a very reasonable Buy It Now price tag of US$735.

Friday, 7 February 2014

I've always liked nice simple guitars. A single pickup and just a volume and tone control are all you need sometimes. It's so easy to get bogged down by the confusion presented by a myriad of volume and tone controls, pickup selector switches, coil taps, series/parallel switches, active electronics, and so on and so forth. I guess, for me, it all goes back to the acoustic guitar; you don't get all that kind of nonsense on an acoustic. If you want a different tone then you adjust your playing style. And that's kinda the way I view no-nonsense single pickup guitars such as the one pictured here.

The Memphis A2 is a Japanese-made guitar from the 1970s. It has a short 23 3/4" scale length, a fat Gibson 58 Les Paul-like neck radius, non-adjustable bridge, and a Bill Lawrence blade pickup mounted in the centre position (surely the most sensible location for it on a single pickup guitar?). Despite its Gibson Junior-like appointments, the body seems to have been modelled closely on that of the Fender Stratocaster.

Currently being auctioned on eBay with a starting price of US$79.95, which sounds pretty reasonable for a guitar that the seller describes as being in "project" condition. This guitar looks like it might have potential. Auction ends Monday night.

Wednesday, 5 February 2014

Here's an interesting guitar design handcrafted in California by Joe Till Guitars. The guitar features a semi-hollow alder body with top and back of curly maple, married to a neck of curly maple and cherry laminate, with a 13 degree headstock angle with Curly Koa veneer, 24 3/4" scale, Indian Rosewood fretboard, 22 med frets, comfortably round profile, 2-way trussrod, bone nut, and abalone dots. Hardware includes two Seymour Duncan SSL-1 singlecoil pickups, a Hipshot bridge and Gibson tuners.

The original body shape, I guess, is reminiscent of a reverse-bodied Gruggett Raindrop, but apparently the design evolved from a concept for a lap steel guitar. It looks like a raindrop or perhaps a leaf to me, but I think the insinuation is that it's supposed to look like a bird. Which is probably where the Woodstock name comes from.

Tuesday, 4 February 2014

Love 'em or loathe 'em, here's another 1960s Japanese wonder. This guitar carries the Apollo brandname and is festooned with four pickups, a whole bunch of volume and tone controls, pickup selectors, etc. The very cheap looking vibrato unit is, remarkably, still intact, whilst the multiple pickguards/control plates put me in mind of Burns guitars. As to what it sounds like or how playable it actually is, unfortunately I am unable to comment.

Currently listed on eBay with an astonishingly optimistic Buy It Now price of US$1,950.

However, this ESP version has one major difference from the Fender in that it DOESN'T HAVE SIX STRINGS. That's right, this is - rather confusingly - a four-string version of a six-string bass, hence it's a Bass IV rather than a Bass VI. I guess it's for those who like the Bass VI's stylings but would prefer a traditional four-string bass. (Actually, there are a couple of other differences too: it doesn't have a tremolo, and the bridge is set back further implying that this has a longer scale than the short-scale Bass VI).

To my eyes it looks rather odd, it's like have a bass Stratocaster; it looks good but slightly wrong at the same time.

This particular ESP Bass IV (I have to keep checking myself - it's so easy to automatically type that as "VI") is currently listed on eBay with a Buy it Now price of US$1,720.

Sunday, 2 February 2014

Jeff Kosmoski of KOZM Guitars, located outside of Portland, OR in the Pacific Northwest of the USA, has made it his mission to single-handedly shake-up the guitar-making industry and bring it into the modern age. He specialises in guitars which are ergonomic, organic, curvaceous, and three-dimensional with bodies that resonate, howl, scream and sing.

KOZM VDC-1 and VDC-2 acoustic guitars

Witness the KOZM VDC series guitars shown here. Forger your flat-tops and never mind your archtop guitars, did you ever see any acoustics that were as three-dimensionally curvy as these?

An inclination to use voodoo-rich swamp ash in the front half of the guitar body. The VDC 1 has a figured-maple center area, with swamp ash in the outer areas. I used Doug Fir in the VDC 2 because I wanted to see how it affected the sound.
(The VDC 1 has a well balanced sound with a surprising amount of low end, whereas the VDC 2 is a bit brighter. FYI, the actual cubic-inch volume of the VDC body is only about 57% of a conventional dreadnaught.)

A modified hard tail bridge. This is basically a conventional, off-the-shelf hard tail bridge, with several key modifications to enhance the flow of acoustic energy into the East Indian rosewood base - and the body of the guitar. (See photos 1-3 below).

The lower waist has been moved towards the bridge a tad. Although this gives the guitar a subtle non-symmetric appearance, the purpose was to force the guitar towards the player's left (at least when sitting down), which in turn tends to lower the right elbow and shoulder - resulting in a more comfortable and natural playing position.

In addition, the VDC 2 has a set of K&K Pure Mini transducers.

It's heartening in these days of the "same old, same old" cookie cutter guitar designs to see someone doing something completely different and original in guitar design, and particularly within the field of acoustic guitar. How many of us have despaired of our acoustic guitar bridges and wished that we could set up the intonation as easily as on an electric?